Doctor Who fans have set up a petition calling for a newly-discovered planet to be named Gallifrey after the Doctor's home world.
The petition has so far received 80,000 signatures, with 50,000 of them coming in the last 24 hours alone.
The planet, whose original name is the less catchy HD 106906 b, was discovered by the University of Arizona earlier this year and has been baffling scientists ever since.
Astronomers recently said that the distant planet is so strange, that according to current planet formation theories, it shouldn’t even exist.
Dr Who fans set up petition to name newly-discovered planet 'Gallifrey' after home of the Time Lords - and it's already got 80,000 signatures
Fan Sam Menhennet wants to rename planet called HD 106906
Wants to rename the strange planet in honour of the show's 50th birthday
'Hot jupiter' HD 106906 b has baffled scientists since its discovery
According to current planet formation theories, it shouldn’t exist because it orbits its star at an incredible 650 times the average Earth-Sun distance
As if plans to send a TARDIS into space weren’t enough, now Dr Who fans want to name an entire planet in honour of the show.
Fans of the programme, known as ‘Whovians’, have set up a petition to name a recently discovered gas giant ‘Gallifrey’ after the home of the Time Lords.
In the past 24 hours, the petition has had 50,000 signatures with a current total of over 80,000.
The planet, whose original name is HD 106906 b, was discovered by the University of Arizona earlier this year and has been baffling scientists ever since.
Astronomers recently said that the distant planet is so strange, that according to current planet formation theories, it shouldn’t even exist.
The planet is 11 times Jupiter’s mass and orbits its star at an incredible 650 times the average Earth-Sun distance.
It has a temperature of 2,700 Fahrenheit (about 1,500 °C) making it much cooler than its host star. It emits most of its energy as infrared rather than visible light.
Earth, by comparison, formed 4.5 billion years ago and is about 350 times older.
In Dr Who, the planet Gallifrey is located in a binary star system within the constellation of Kasterborous some 250 million light years away from Earth.
The petition, which was started by Australian fan Sam Menhennet, calls for the International Astronomical Union to rename the planet in honour of Doctor Who's 50th Birthday.
‘Doctor Who is legendary, award winning, record breaking, and global, and this planet deserves something special and supernatural as its name,’ he said.
‘How better to honour its existence than by dubbing it the home planet of our beloved time travelling alien, ‘The Doctor’?’
The petition can be signed at Change.org.
THE 'IMPOSSIBLE' PLANET
HD 106906 b is 11 times Jupiter’s mass and orbits its star at an incredible 650 times the average Earth-Sun distance.
At only 13 million years old, this young planet still glows from the residual heat of its formation.
It has a temperature of 2,700 Fahrenheit (about 1,500 °C) making it much cooler than its host star. It emits most of its energy as infrared rather than visible light.
Earth, by comparison, formed 4.5 billion years ago and is about 350 times older.
Read more: Doctor Who fans petition to name newly-found planet 'Gallifrey' after home of the Time Lord | Mail Online
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